School-Live!: Imperfect Memories
by TakuyaSamaKun
Summary: After the plague that turned the city into an abandon wasteland. A lone survivor Hiroshi Takanashi, who is mentally shocked, finds himself to be searching for his lost mother in the zombie infested city. As days pass, Hiroshi comes across the members of the School Living club. Will they survive the beginning of the end? Or dance around the illusions of someone's imagination?
1. The Night Before The End

_Maybe it was all a nightmare, or could it be just a dream? Whose imagination of a world am I living in?_

 _The night everything ended, I stayed up late thinking over to myself, if my life could be different, but you know what? I was right._

 **CHAPTER 1**

 **The Night Before The End**

Within the dark room of a Hiroshi Takanashi's home, with nothing but the computer screen light accupying the darkness, set in stone of his seat, the young male plucked away on his keyboard, writing & reading the online forums. The recent attacks withing Tokyo, and parts of Japan began to spread like wildfire, and the infomation on the cases spread across the web. These 'so called' attacks weren't caused by any terrorist groups, or so to speak, the bizzare deaths occuring within Japan was from unidentified groups of people, the victims were apparently canniblized. On the daily online forums, that's what they all talked about.

[ This must be some kind of joke, right!? ] - Anonymous

[ It's no joke, it's on the news man. ] - Vector

[ There's nothing happening in Kyoto, so is it just the bigger cities? ] - RukkePun

[ I heard Tokyo is in a shit storm with cases. ] -Chanma

[ Yeah well, this is scaring the hell out of me... I hope this dies down. ] - Anonymous

[ Hopfully... I got a bad feeling about this one... ] Chanma

[ This doesn't look good, I mean, the attacks are increasing right? ] - Nyan204

[ The news said the situation is under control, so probably not. ] - Vector

[ Yeah, but what if it is? Then what? ] - Chanma

[ THE NEWS UPDATED! ATTACKS ARE INCREASING WITHIN TOKYO! ] - Nyan204

[ Really!? What's going on!? ] - RukkePun

[ They are saying it's some kind of plague! What is going on?... ] - Nyan204

[ It can't be... There's no sickness where people eat each other... ] - Chanma

[ OH MY GAWD! SHIT IS GOING INSANE OVER HERE THEREARSADASDSADSA ] - Vector

[ What's wrong!? ] RukkePun

[ What the hell? ] - Chanma

[ Hey! Say something! ] - Anonymous

With the raging panics inside the chat room, the user Vector never responded, nor did he leave the room. The ending message he left, made things more confusing and left everyone in a state of panic and distress.

"What the hell...?" Hiroshi mumbled to himself in slight panic while checking the endless replies from the users. Then with bright lights sparked up through his curtains, to his curiousity, he peeked out the window. His eyes widen in surprise, fires and explosions broke out in the distance, helicopters flying though the skies. The wailing sirens of Police, Fire, and Ambulance cars roared though the city, the streets flooded with panicked civilians in a rush to leave their homes, some were even attacked by these mobs that were mentioned on T.V.

"This can't be happening... This can't be..." Rejecting the reality of what's happing before him, he fell back against the wall, unable to take all this in at once. For a brief moment he stood still in shock, after realizing his sick mother was downstairs in bed, Hiroshi dashed out of the room and raced downstairs, the very thought of her safety was set in his mind. While coming into the living room, the television was left on; along with the main news channel.

"We encourage everyone to stay in their homes and lock the doors, do not approach anyone who may be sick. We repeat-" The male reporter repeated the acts of safety and advice given.

Hiroshi had no time to take such measures, other than look for his mother in the other rooms, but still no sign of her, he began to think she wasn't even in the house anymore.

"Mom!" He shouted throughout the house, but there was still no answer, which struck fear into his very self. After checking countless times he finally came to seeing her standing outside in the backyard, staring towards the disaster, the burning buildings, and screams of terror can be heard in the distance. It was starting to become hell on earth.

"Mom! We gotta get out of here!" With a quick warning, Hiroshi's mother stood still, unresponsive.

"Mom?..." Hiroshi slowly moved closer towards his mother, his fear building up inside as he stepped up right behind her.

"Are you ok-" In an instant she turned around, forcfully grabbing hold of her only son, revealing her blood shot eyes. He struggled violently as he watched her sink her teeth into his neck.

 **-END OF CHAPTER-**

 **Author's notes: I just recently watched School Live! and wanted to make a story out of it for some time now. I hope you all enjoy the story and the journey of survival.**

 **(PS: I haven't fully watched the show or read the manga yet, so I'll keep in touch with that.)**


	2. Mad World

_In my restless dreams, a reccuring illusion, masked feelings and emotions._

 _How do I wake up?_

 **CHAPTER 2**

 **Mad World**

"...!?" Quickly waking up to reality, Hiroshi gasped for air with sweat running down his face from the reccurring nightmare of his mother. He took a moment to gather the rest of his thoughts before sitting up, then realized that he got separated with her during the outbreak.

"It's the same dream again..." Hiroshi said to himself while getting out of bed.

The light moans of the undead can be heard outside in the distance, like birds tweeting in the morning, but it was a lot more dreadful to hear each day. He came towards the window for some light, the once city called Tokyo is now dead, worn down buildings stretched far in the distant along with the undead roaming the streets.

"Another beautiful day in Tokyo." He sarcastically stated the condition in the world he was now living in. After given his arms a good stretch the teen decided to have some breakfast, he found himself scraping up the rest of his food rations, it became clear that he was running low. But, water was still looking good, for now at least. Hiroshi couldn't remember the time he last had a cooked meal, it must be forever now, but how long was that? He thought.

After prying open the lid from the small plastic container, he clapped his hands together, being thankful for the food he was given. After giving his simple 'thank you' he dug right into his breakfast, the taste from each bite became dull and wasn't all that appetizing, but it still gave him enough energy to keep going through the endless days of survival. Finishing up his last bite, he threw it out into the trash can and went stright for his bag, searching through his things, he pulled out the map of the city. Inside revealed the points of where he searched, the areas that were more dangerous, the places for supplies, and also, his mother's wherabouts. Flipping through the pages to check the locations he hasn't hit yet, the most closest area would be the Shopping Mall, which Hiroshi found risky since those kind of large areas can be swarming with undead.

"Hmm... Maybe I'll find her there as well, but it's a gamble... Screw it." Making his mind up Hiroshi took that chance and began to get ready to venture out on a mission. Gathering his bag and weapons, which were a 357 Revolver & survival knife he obtained from Police cars, and a handful of ammo which he was running low as well, so using is was for dangerous situations only.

"Not good, but it'll do for now." He agreed with the odds and threw on his backpack and headed out the door, the holdout he stayed at was an overun Police department on the top floor in the chief's office. The place was still crawling with infected but the staircase was well barricaded, the only way out was through the broken elevator using the emergency ladder which goes down the the first floor. There wasn't much infected wandering down there but it's a 'you never know' kind of thing. Hiroshi walked down the worn down hallway until he came to the pried elevator doors, looking down the collapsed elevator can be seen at the bottom, broken and unusable. The opposite side was where the ladder was, backing up to get a good jumping distance he dashed towards the doors and leaped from the edge until he hit the ladder, grabbing hold of the bars. Getting a good grip he began to climb down until he hit the first floor. There he made a clean jump to the other side of the opened doors, and check to see if any of the infected were wandering about, which to his luck weren't many.

"My lucky day," He said to himself while making a quick gataway through the main doors, once he stepped out, the sun light introduced itself; along with the bright blue sky, it was the only thing that made the world beautiful. Checking his surroundings the undead roam blindly around the streets, but there were only a few. Not wasting any time he ventured out into the dead streets, the building and streets weren't intact as they were before the outbreak. But he still remembered how they looked, and all the people that once crowded these streets. Keeping his Revolver at his side, he also kept his knife handy in which he needed it in any given situation. After minutes of walking; passing unwanted cars and buildings, stores that already been robbed of its goods. He came to a dead end where the infected gathered at the end of the street.

("Great... The only way that leads straight down to the mall is blocked... Think Hiroshi, think...") He thought to himself while pressing up against the wall, concealing himself from the zombies line of sight. The ideas he came up with became blank, there wasn't any other way to get there without running into a horde of them. Except for the alleys which is very dangerous, but he was left with no other choice. If things ever turn nasty, he'll have to use his sidearm, which he really doesn't want to waste the ammo. He slowly turned around the corner to see if there was an opening near the nearest alley, but luckily there were only a few which he had no problem running pass by. Making a clean break pass them, the zombies slowly chased after him down the alley, but were obviously outrunned. A sigh of relief escaped the teen's lips as he made his way across down the death valley.

"What a -" Breaking his sentence one of the undead snuck up on him, forcing himself ontop of Hiroshi, he struggled to keep the zombie from biting him.

"Argghh! Get... Off!" A shout demanding to get the zombified Police officer off, Hiroshi found an opportunity to grab his knife and jabbed it right into the officer's head. Stopping him completly, pushing the body off he collected his bloody knife from the zombie's had. The noise drew some attention of the other undead to his position, which was his cue to leave.

"Once again... Close call." He exclaimed while making a break for it down the street.

Hiroshi took a moment to catch his breath near an abandon bakery from all that running, it was never a dull moment with these infected, they were just everywhere! He began to think how many people were in the city, which never occurred to him when living a normal life. But what was normal anyways? All that he knew this was everyday routine for him, the world he once knew vanished a long time ago. After catching his breath he decided to press forward down the street, where the Shopping Mall can be seen in the distance. Checking the empty street which was very odd, he became to wonder where the infected were all at. But that doesn't mean he should let his guard down, it still gave off a bad vibe of how it all seemed, with his pistol in hand he looked from left to right, checking the run down stores.

In moments he stopped in front of the Shopping Mall, which brought fond memories of when he came here with a few friends from school, the laughter and fun times he had while coming here.

"Let's make this search quick, I gotta get back before dark." He referred back to his rules of venturing outside.

Walking through the broken doors he came to the main part of the mall, he got the image of the place looking all clean and busy with people. Having a look around, only a handful of undead could be seen on the first floor. His best bet would they be wandering on the other floors as well, noticing a broken down escalator, he dashed straight right down the middle and headed up to the second floor. Not being noticed by the zombies gave him an opportunity to think of the stores that had the supplies he needed.

"Canned food would be what I need, but I could use some other things," Hiroshi's main task was to gather more food, but also be good advantage of taking this trip to get any other supplies.

Heading back downstairs too the super mart, which was an easy trip to make with the very few zombies being around. Opening the large metal door he entered the mart which was completly dark inside. He flipped on his flash light only to see scattered food all over the floor, most were already moldy and outdated. But that didn't stop him from searching. Walking pass each aisles he finally came across the canned food section, it was the same, cans scattered all over the floor. He could imagine how many people came here to collect their share of food, but some should be still around.

"Now let's see." Hiroshi whispered to himself while checking the soup, some sparked his taste and stuffed them into his bag. Any canned beans and veggies he found also took them, stacking them up until his bag filled up half way. Hiroshi needed to make sure he had enough room for other things he needed, which were most likely up on the second floor. Packing up his bag of goods, the sound of footsteps came closer until one of the infected attempted to grab hold of him. But Hiroshi countered and slashed the zombie a few times before finishing him off.

"Too easy." Praising his own killing abilities he left the store, closing the door back up quietly.

"Now it's time to head back upstairs and get what I need." Whispering, he went back up the escalators, passing by the undead with ease. The stores which caught his interest were the ones containing batteries or everyday items, the closest he could think of would be near the clothing store, readjusting his bag he headed straight down there. Looking around, the place was in rough shape, he started to get nostalgic about this place, the food he ate, but it was nothing but a memory now. Deep down, he had just wish things would go back soon, but there didn't seem to be any trace of that happening. Making it outside the shop, just as he was about to go in, the corner of his eye he seen a figure, standing at the end of the hallway, a jolt ran down his spine from the surprise. As he quickly turned to get a better look, surprised, and with joy, it was his mother standing before him, he just knew it was her, but it didn't take her long to continue down the next corner of the dark hallway.

"Mom! Wait!" He shouted as he ran after her around the corner, he kept running and running blindly without any thought of danger. He wondered why she was walking away, after all this time of being separated. Coming to the next corner he was greeted with hordes of zombies that turned their heads toward him.

"Whoa!" Stopping his tracks, he pulled out his revolver and fired a few shots without thinking. The sound echoed throughout the mall, which caused nearby undead to get rattled up by the sound. His heart raced as he ran down the hallway back to where he came from, but it was already too late, the zombies already blocked his way. With no other choice he continued down the other way, hoping to get out.

"Come on! Where is the exit!?" With a horde of zombies chasing after him he fired until his gun clicked, killing about six of them, he quickly popped more rounds into his pistol and ran for it.

The sound of gunshots rang repreatedly, in another room, a young girl in her teen's was startled by the loud noise and checked up on the door, and the small dog which kept her company, barked in defense.

"Rescue?" The young student said in relief while moving the boxes from the door.

"There is just no end to them..." Hiroshi kept running down the dark hallway until he heard the sound of a dog barking.

Once the girl had the last box moved she opened the door to salvation of being rescued, but her hopes broke once she saw the zombies on the other side. Quickly shutting the door and holding it in place, the undead violently banged on the door to get in.

"No! Just go away!" She screamed.

Turning on the last corner, Hiroshi spotted the zombies attempting to break down the door, along with the root of the barking. Closing in on them, he had a clear shot from point blank, popping both of them in the head.

"...!?" The girl's eyes widen in surprie from the loud gunshot outside and recklessly opened the door to greet her rescue but only to a single male, whom ran right into the room.

"Hurry and block the door!" Hiroshi ordered while closing up the door and holding it.

"G-Got it!" With a nod in understanding she rushed to block up the door with the boxes once again. The zombies which followed Hiroshi banged on the door continuously. The small dog kept barking but the young teen settled him down. The two survivors held the door until the undead decided to give up and scatter.

"Finally..." Hiroshi said in relief of surviving another life and death situation.

The girl peered up at the male with hope in her eyes.

"Are... You here to rescue me?" She questioned with happines of seeing another human being.

"Sorry, but I'm no rescue team." He replied, breaking her hopes of rescue.

"Oh, I see." Her smile diminished into disappointment, the salvation she waited for had failed again.

"But it is nice to see someone alive." Hiroshi exclaimed in attempt to brighten up the mood.

"Yes... Yes it is." The teen smiled once again at his point.

Hiroshi slipped his gun back into his side and had a seat on the sofa, taking a breather from that run.

"Got a name?" He asked politely while setting his gaze set upon the blonde.

"Um yes, it's Miki Naoki, and this is Taromaru." She replied while holding up the small dog, which the puppy barked in response as well.

"Haha... I'm Hiroshi Takanashi, nice to meet you." A small chuckle escape his lips from the puppy's response, but also felt joy in finding another person.

"Where did you come from?" Miki questioned Hiroshi's whereabouts.

"From an abandoned Police Station, that's my hideout, I came here looking for supplies." Hiroshi responded back truthfully, setting his bag down on the floor.

"So, there is no rescue at all huh?" Miki fell into a gloomy state.

"Maybe, but who knows? I'm sure there is." He spoke to give Miki some sort of hope of rescue, but it was merely to cheer her up.

"..." She hugged Taromaru to comfort herself, what she wanted was to keep thinking there was some sort of rescue from the Army or somebody. Hiroshi on the other hand, believed there was no rescue, not after he had been through. The two remained quiet for some time, until Hiroshi figured that he should just set up shop here, rather than going their seperate ways.

"I know this may be sudden, but mind if I stayed here with you? It'll be easier to get the supplies, plus it'll be dangerious to walk back to my place." Hiroshi asked in hope to cooperate together.

"I don't mind." Miki replied, her disappointment finally swayed away. Even Taromaru barked in happiness, her agreement put a small smile on Hiroshi's lips, he stood up with relief and made his way to the barricaded door to check if the hallway is clear.

"Where are you going?..." Miki stood up as well in fear of being alone again.

"I'm going to go back to my place and get my stuff before it get's dar-" Hiroshi was interrupted by Miki's sudden response.

"Wait! If you go... What if you don't come back?"

 **-END OF CHAPTER-**

 **Author's notes:**

 **Here it is, the first encounter with Miki and Taromaru, I'll most likely post another chapter this week sometime. But I hope you are enjoying this so far, until next time.**

 **Ja ne~**

 **-TakuyaSamaKun**


	3. Blank Nightmares

_The world is a strange place, too many people lost their lives here for me to remember._

 _As time passes I begin to realize that I'm one of them, the one on the list of deaths._

 _Still, there is no hidding from this darkness, and soon I'll be swallowed up._

 **CHAPTER 3**

 **Blank Nightmares**

Hours had passed after Hiroshi decided to stay, being isolated inside the small room, the sound of the moans sang in the dark streets, a never ending melody. The two survivors, well three, find themselves waiting for the unexpected. Miki had found herself listening to the static on the radio channel on the CD player, while Hiroshi was busy cleaning his pistol and counting the remaining rounds he had left.

"I'm surprised you still have something like that." Hiroshi pointed out Miki's CD player, which from the looks of it, still remained intact.

"Yeah, but I only use it for the radio these days." Miki replied with her eyes set on the music device.

"Have there been any broadcasts lately?" The survivor asked, placing the revolver on the handmade box table.

"No, not since it all happened." She stated in disappointment, but that didn't stop her from believing that the world was over.

"I see," Hiroshi didn't have anything else to say on the matter, but from what he's been through and experienced, he couldn't break it her that rescue is out of the question.

"So, shall we eat something then?" Miki suggested with the time for diner.

"Yeah, that'd be great." He replied, having notice that the last time he ate was at breakfest.

"Okay, I'll find what we have left." Miki set aside her Music device and began searching through her box of food rations.

Hiroshi on the other hand, gathered up the rest of his ammo and stuffed it into his trusty bag. Finally realizing that he spotted his mother within the mall, but couldn't remember what exactly happened afterwards. Other than the worn out faces of the undead.

"Here we go," She presented the food rations in a orderly fashion; some only had one type, some had more than the other, but that didn't stop him from choosing what he wanted.

"Hm... I guess I'll take this one." Hiroshi picked out the one that he hadn't tried yet.

"How is it out there? You know, outside." Miki was curious, wanted to know more info regarding the outside world in the current situation.

"Wait, you mean you haven't been outside yet?" He sounded surprised by the fact she was hold up here for so long.

"Well yeah, ever since it all happened." Miki gave a reassuring answer, but felt puzzled by Hiroshi's sudden reaction.

"From my point of view, it's a silent wasteland, but I'm not sure really, since I've only been to certain parts of the city." Hiroshi explained with little detail, leaving out the true facts.

"So, is there a chance that help might come?" Her eyes filled with hope, peering up at him.

"Hm, maybe." Hiroshi felt like he shouldn't break the bad news to her on short notice, but in due time. He found himself chowing down on the dull flavor rations, as always, they weren't enjoyable to eat. He figured to washed it down with refreshing water, the taste wasn't that amazing but food is food.

"Oh! I'm sorry Taromaru," Miki aplogized for not realizing his bowl was empty, but she quickly fixed that with a bag of dog food, with Taromaru barked in returned as in 'thanks'.

"Hm..." Hiroshi found it amusing how they were close, the more he thought about it, the more he realized how alone he was before meeting them, but that never bothered him in the slightest.

"Thank you for the food." He clapped his hands together after finishing his meal; it was more like a japanese tradition, or rather, for him to remember that he is still human.

"By the way, have you seen any another survivors out there?" Miki asked curiously, hoping that he seen Kei still wandering outside.

"A survivor? Sorry but I haven't, why you asking?" Hiroshi shot back the question, not mentioning the fact his mother was in the mall earlier, or the other survivors he'd met along the way.

"Oh, no reason." Miki shut down the topic, her voice hanged low, with the thought of her friend still missing worried Miki.

There was a moment of silence within the room, it was peaceful, and Hiroshi felt more comfortable being with someone other than himself for a change. Within that silence, the sound of humming echoed from the outside, at first he thought it came from Miki's music player but that wasn't the case. The beautiful humming grew louder, but Miki didn't seem to be bothered by it, nor did she take notice.

"Don't you hear that?" He questioned the sound.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Miki felt puzzled by his random question.

"That Humming... It's coming from outside the hall..." Hiroshi got up to follow the sound which lead him to the barricaded doors.

"I don't hear anything. Are you okay?" She began to feel uncomfortable, and felt uneasy about Hiroshi's behavior.

"I'm going to check it out," He exclaimed.

"Wait, what? Why?" Miki quickly stood up in fear of his sudden decision.

"Don't worry, I'm just checking the hallway." He assured her.

"M-make it quick!" Miki demanded.

After moving the boxes, Hiroshi checked to see if the coast was clear of any infected before opening the door, but much to his luck there weren't any in sight. Slowly opening the door, Hiroshi turned on his flash light and checked once again from where the humming is coming from, but it completely went silent the moment he opened that door.

"What do you see?" Miki questioned.

"Nothing at the mome-" A sudden breakthough of Taromaru barking, and quickly dashed by Hiroshi in an instant, running down the dark hallway.

"Taromaru!" Miki shouted for his return.

"Damn it..." Hiroshi shun the light at the corridor to see where Taromaru went, but there was no sign of him anywhere.

"W-we have to get him back..." Her lips trembled as she spoke, fear of losing another dear friend.

Hiroshi remained quiet for a second, thinking over if he should go and look for him or not, but turning over to see Miki's reaction changed him. He could see how much Taromaru was precious to her, but was it really worth it? Risking his own life? What was in it for him? Hiroshi thought it over and over until he made the choice that would be a sucidal mission.

"I'll get him back, he probably hasn't gone that far. I'll be back before you know it." He gave her a reassuring statment.

"It'll be better if-" Miki tried to speak up for her team effort.

"No, you stay here, I won't be long." Hiroshi cut her line of sentence, but before leaving he took his trusty revolver and closed the door behind him. With Miki left alone once again.

"Is it happening again? Kei..." She recalled the same situation.

Down the corridor, Hiroshi was in search of Taromaru, but he began to feel he wasn't in the same hallway anymore, nor was he near his position.

"Where are you?" He silently whispered to himself.

His search eventually lead him where he came from, and this time it empty for once, he had wondered where all the infected went, but what he knew is that he should never let his guard down no matter what. The place was so dark he couldn't tell which way to go next, only the sights of his flashlight radius. But he did reconized some of the shops that he passed by.

"Come on Taromaru, where did you go?" He questioned again, at the same time felt uneasy about the fact he could hear someone humming not to long ago. Even his mother, nothing seem to make any sense. His searched pressed on until he forgot how far he was from the saferoom, checking the nearby shops and stores for any sight of Taromaru, but judging his size proved to be a difficult task. Almost impossble in the current situation, maybe if he was a little bigger then it wouldn't be so bad.

"I should go back and check the other-" Hiroshi paused for a moment to hear a faint distant bark coming from his opposite direction. Not a moments hesitation he rushed towards where the noise was coming from, luckly the barking grew louder each time he got closer. He finally came across the main enterence, where he noticed one of the infected standing in the middle, all alone. Hiroshi thought nothing of it but began to see it was twitching intensently, it's awful groans grew louder, so loud that they eventually turned into viscious growls. It's blood shot eyes glowed in the darkness.

"What the hell?" He couldn't make nothing of it, this was his first time witnessing an infected acting out of the ordinary. Playing it safe, he muffled his footsteps while making across to the other end of the shop, his eye's locked on the infected's figure, with a clear breakthough, a sudden loud bark echoed throughout the mall which alerted the monster. Which he quickly shot his gaze towards Hiroshi's position. In an instant the zombie sprinted up the escalators which caused Hiroshi to panic and make a break for it down the corridor, and into a random shop to take shelter from the undead. In fear of being caught by this monster, Hiroshi ducked under behind the stacks of shelves, he took a small peek to see if the zombie passed by. The growls soon became clear and were very close, it was as if the zombie was looking for him, which made Hiroshi nervous of 'it's' presence. Taromaru's barking continued endlessly which caught the abnormal infected to leave toanother area, probably to where Taromaru was.

"That was close," The words uttered silent in relief, but he knew it wasn't over until he found Miki's friend. Shuffling back up to his feet, his eyes sweeped the store for any infected, but it seemed all clear for now. What was odd that there was that only one infected roaming the mall. Just what was it? How did it get like that? A question that he just couldn't figure out, either way, it meant trouble if it ever got a hold of him. Judging by how viscious it was. Shaking the remaining thoughts he exited the shop, still on the look out for his dangerous hunter, lurking within the darkness. Using standard rules of engagement proved to be useless, he'd had to risk taking a shot with his revolver rather than his knife, he just couldn't risk his own life with an enemy he just came across. Besides that, it was an infected who could sprint.

"Let's do this Hiroshi, nice and fast." He spoke with determination, it wasn't the first time being in these kind of situations. He tightened the grip on his revolver until sweat began to drip, the tension grew as he got closer, closer, and closer to Taromaru's barking. The thought of being pumbled into the ground from behind or his side by an infected came to mind, the fear was clearly getting to him, and he couldn't figure out why. Was it just too dark? The weird humming from before? Whatever it was, he tried to empty his mind, and concentrate on finding this dog. His hearted raced with every step, ready for the unexpected, he came across a clothing shop where the source of the barking was. It was completly silent, which was very odd. Taromaru couldn't... Hiroshi spared the thought and began checking the different isles of women's clothing, whispering his name.

"Taromaru... Taromaru, come here boy."

Yet there was no answer, nor did he expect a dog rushing towards him with opens arms of greet. Using his torch to light up the darker areas; only find piles of clothing on the floor, still no Taromaru. After checking top and bottom, he came to conclude that maybe he ran off somewhere, or if that he's running away from that certain infected roaming around. But god, did he hope Taromaru got away. Making a decision to leave and check another shop nearby, he heard rattling of hangers in the dressing rooms, which startled him for a second.

"Taromaru?" Hiroshi called out to him.

He began to slowly approach the covered room, his heart racing with fear from whether or not it was Taromaru. Cocking the revovler; he was ready for anyone; or anything. Grabbing hold of the dress curtains, he took a deep breath, but without anytime for him to make a move, a loud growl hissed in attack.

"AH!" Hiroshi yelled after being tackled, which caused him to fire a shot, missing his target completly. The monster grabbed ahold of him with great strength, and forcefully chucked Hiroshi to the side; knocking him to the floor.

"Ugh..." Before he can even make any resistance, the zombie was already ontop of Hiroshi, looking for an opportunity to take a chunk out of him. Struggling violently to get the damn thing off, but the strength the zombie possesed was imense. The sound of it's teeth chopping while slowly making it's way to Hiroshi's neck, tying to snagged him like a snake. But Hiroshi quickly shoved the barrel of his revovler into the zombie's mouth and fired off a few rounds, which went clean through. Splattering glomps of blood out into the air before hitting the ground.

"Get off me," He pushed the corpse to the side, while making the time to catch his breath from that intense moment. If it were not his quick thinking & reactions then he'd probably would be zombie chow right about now, or worse, one of them. He got back up on his feet, now fully noticing how many times he'd already been in close death situations. Lucky for him, it wasn't time to die just yet.

"Right, now to-"

 _"How much suffering does it take, before you lose your insanity?"_ A cold voice spoke, which sent a jolt down his spine.

"Who's there?..." He quickly pointed his flashlight in different directions until he spotted a figure to his right. Shining the light to get a better look, it was no other than a woman in rough shape; pale and wearing worn out clothing, by the looks of it, she looked like she been through hell and back.

The mere sight was horrifying, but catching a glimpse of her face, Hiroshi quickly reconized her in an instant.

"Mom? Is that you mom?" Hiroshi questioned.

There was no answer from the woman, other than a blank stare from her cold dead eyes. Hiroshi's mother took a step forward towards the male, slowly approaching him, which caused the survivor to panic.

"It... Can't be her... You stay away from me." He demanded, pulling arms at the dead figure of his mother, where she wasn't fazed in the slightest, and kept getting closer to him.

"I SAID STAY AWAY FROM ME!" At his breaking point, Hiroshi fired off a shot from his panic, with the bullet going through her forehead. A clean shot from point blank. But as if she was already dead, her white pale eyes stared back at Hiroshi with blood dripping from the bullet hole, a cold voice roared throughout the shop.

 _"Do you know what it feels like to be torn to pieces? You will never escape, NEVER!"_

- **End of Chapter 3** -

 **Authors Notes:**

 **Thank you all for the reviews, I know it's been awhile, to clarify, this story will keep continuing despite the slow process. But I will try to get a chapter every so often within my schedule. Updates on grammar I've missed will be up soon. ~ TakuyaSamaKun**


	4. Forgotten Memories I

_Inside this dark maze, I find myself to be lost within the cold structure of the abyss, I'm so far gone I could never find my way back._

 **Chapter 4**

 **Forgotten Memories I**

"JUST DIE ALREADY!" Hiroshi screamed in fear while he emptied the last of his rounds into the woman until she finally fell back, laying there, blood dripping from her chest where the bullets had impacted.

"Finally..." The relief of killing off another infected calmed him down, but he couldn't figure out why he was in such a panic. It wasn't like him to lose it. Either way, it was dead now, like the rest of them.

"Now to find that-" He paused himself after hearing the sound of broken glass crunch behind him, and quickly turned towards the sound with his empty revolver pointed at the shadowed figure.

"Hiroshi-San?" A familiar voice called out from the darkness.

"Naoki?" He turned on his flashlight to reveal Miki near the entrance.

"What are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay back in the room?" He suddenly got angry with her reckless decision.

"I'm sorry, I heard gunshots and came to help so I..." Miki tried to explain but fell silent.

"I'm fine, nothing I can't handle. Let's get you back to the-" The sudden of inhuman screams siren throughout the mall, and were getting louder by the second.

"Oh no... This way!" Hiroshi ordered while taking the lead into the back of the shop, where he found an empty dressing room.

"What's that sound?" Miki whispered, fearing the sudden loud screams echoing throughout the mall.

"Trouble." Hiroshi muttered while switching off his flashlight to conceal their presence from the screaming monsters. He closed the door but just enough so he can see through the small gap to figure out whether or not they possessed a huge threat, just like the one he killed.

"Stay back, and don't make a sound..." Those became his last words before silence, his rapid heart beating from the fear of the number of shadows running past the shop; some even stopped to look around but didn't remain long. Once the screaming voices fell distant, both survivors felt a sense of relief.

"That was close." Miki commented.

"Yeah, let's head back to the room before anymore show up."

"What? What do you mean? Taromaru is still out there!" Miki objected.

"It's too dangerous to keep searching, these infected aren't exactly normal. If we keep going, we'll only get ourselves killed." Hiroshi stated the facts.

"..." Miki fell silent for a moment. She knew the danger was high and was hesitant on leaving Taromaru behind.

"We'll search again tomorrow." He tried to convince her to leave.

Miki left out a sign of defeat and disappointment, the best choice right now was so fall back to the hideout. That she knew for a fact.

"Alright, let's go."

Hiroshi nodded his head in agreement.

Just before they were about to leave, he made sure to reload the empty chamber in his revolver just in case if things went south. He checked both ways around the corner, searching for any monsters that were nearby.

"Look's clear. What's the quickest way to get back?" He asked.

"Hm, just follow me."

Miki moved forward and hanged right just outside of the clothing shop, where Hiroshi followed up behind on full alert to any movement or sound. While Miki was traversing through the darkness; finding the sanctuary of light. Remembering where she had come from, the hallway that lead into the staff rooms came by quick, but to Hiroshi the walk felt distant, as if the safe room was further than it actually was.

"It's too dark... I'm using the flashlight for the rest of the way." Miki pulled out her small torch and lit up the darkness within the hallway, but in that instant the light shined upon the figure of a male standing before them. Quickly turning back to face to survivors, it gave a loud shriek of alert. With no time to waste, the infected pounced Miki to the floor.

"Get it off me!" She screamed.

She fought it long enough for Hiroshi to put a bullet in it's head, which caused more screams to echo in the distance.

"We gotta go!" He shouted while helping Miki get back on her feet for a quick escape.

Before they can even make a break for it, more infected ran out from the hallway, which only resulted him to find another way around, but it was too late, as more closed in on their position. Looking around, he needed to find someplace to hide out, or make a last stand.

"What should we do?" Miki was terrified by the situation.

Hiroshi spotted an empty donut shop, and in a hurry he sped off into the store.

"This way!"

Miki quickly fled into the shop where they came into the back of the counter, with the staff room door that lead into the kitchen but was jammed by something on the other side. Hiroshi pushed with all his might which it only opened up a bit, maybe just a few more. But the infected gave them no time to do so, as they ran within the shop but Hiroshi stopped them in their tracks by firing off his rounds which caused them to drop like flies.

"Get the door open! I'll hold them off!" He shouted while pulling out the rest of his bullets for a quick reload.

Miki followed and tried to force open the door to open, but lacked the strength to really push it to the fullest. Meanwhile Hiroshi fended off any charging infected coming in from the outside, where another horde came running in. Steadily aiming at the target's, he pulled the trigger to hit 'em in either the chest or the head to kill them off, but the ones survived struggled to get back up. This gave him time to quickly empty his chamber and slip in more bullets for the next horde.

"What's taking so long!?" Hiroshi shouted.

"I'm trying!"

The more Miki violently pushed the door the more it came undone, but it was jammed in tighter than it was expected.

As if things haven't gotten any worse, Hiroshi counted the six rounds for his final shots, meaning it could only buy Miki a couple minutes, or sooner. The raging screams howled while more monsters charged in, leaving him to shoot down the closest threat; one after the other until he ran out of shots. Having lost count of his shots the last remaining infected ran straight towards Hiroshi's direction which resulted him quickly aiming down his sights for a nice clean shot, pulling down on the trigger resulted clicking of an empty chamber. No time to react, the infected leaped over the counter and pushed Hiroshi back, causing him to bang the back of his head against the edge of the back counter.

"Hiroshi!" She cried out.

With one final push the staff room door was unjammed and finally opened up, leaving Miki to be successful.

"It's open!"

Hiroshi struggled to get the zombie off, he traded quick stabs in the infected's gut with his knife until it finally fell weak, just enough time for him to jab it into it's head. Leaving the blade inside, the two survivors quickly fled into the staff room while another horde of infected marched inside, banging against the closed door with both Miki and Hiroshi blocking it with whatever heavy object they could find.

"...Just go away... Just please..." Miki muttered under her breath as she pushed up against the door.

Minutes had passed until the monsters had finally given up their violent acts, which caused both survivors to be able to breathe.

"Close call... I thought we were done for." Miki dropped to her knees from exhaustion.

"...Y-Yeah..." Hiroshi's vision blurred out along with the aching pain from the back of his head felt intense, to the point of him falling over which caused Miki to feel startled.

"Are you okay?" She shunned the light over to Hiroshi where he laid over to his side, just enough to notice drips of blood pouring out from the back of his head.

Racing over to his side, Miki pulled him over to get a better look.

"No... What should I do? Tell me what I should do, Hiroshi!" In a state of panic, she cried out for his assistance.

"D-don't worry.. I'll be..."

As his vision faded, he also was losing conscious, the only thing he could see was Miki's worried expression and her calling voice.

Out of nowhere, the sound of sirens wailing in the distant begun to ring, and the sound of screams had rung inside his ears. Fully shutting his eyelids into complete darkness, he awoke to the sound of yelling and orders barked from the nearby police and military personnel. Opening up his eyes to the world, he had seen huge crowds of civilians gathered around the local high school where it seemed to be some sort of evacuation.

"Takanashi!"

A voice called out from among the crowd, emerged a military officer in command, which was Hiroshi's superior.

"There you are cadet. You got a new orders, we need your unit to head over to the university for assistance on the next evacuation point." The Sergeant gave a brief explanation.

"What? But we're only a cadet unit, isn't the university more larger?" Hiroshi questioned the sudden orders.

"Doesn't matter, they need more manpower to secure the building. One of the trucks are leaving to the site, the rest of your squad is waiting for you, good luck."

"Yes sir!" After saluting, Hiroshi left and headed towards the parking lot where the truck was being held for transportation.

"Hiroshi!" One of his fellow peers shouted.

"Kai, there you guys are." He came up behind the truck.

"You made it, c'mon get in." Kai held out his hand to pull Hiroshi up into the back where the rest of his squad members were.

"So the new orders are to provide assistance huh?"

"Yeah, it's surprising, considering we're only cadets and all." Kai responded.

"Alright! This is it!" One of the squad members yelled.

The truck engine roared to life and moved forward, exiting the high school parking lot and into the suburb streets.

"Man, the one mission we get sent out on has to be an evacuation eh?" Saku let out a small complaint.

"Ha! More like baby sitting." Kazaku bluntly stated.

"You got that right, if this is going to be nothing but evacuation all night then I'm gonna be pissed."

"What's the matter? Don't like baby sitting?" Kazaku exclaimed.

"Like hell." Saku replied.

"What do you think is causing this uproar?" Kai questioned the bigger situation.

"No clue, heard it was some sort of terrorist attack or something." Hiroshi answered unsurely.

"Well whatever it is, they sure caused the whole damn city to run." Saku commented.

"Why the hell aren't we getting more details on the situation?" Kazaku asked.

"Yeah, what's up with that? Deploying our unit without even the slightest clue on what's causing this."

"Do you have a problem cadet? I will give the rest of the details once we reach the site, do you got that soldier?" The sergeant major ordered.

"Sir, yes sir!" Kazaku obeyed.

"Look at all these people, this sure ain't your typical disaster!"

"You got that right." Hiroshi mumbled.

"Delta two five, what's the situation?" The Sargent spoke into the walkie talkie.

"They're everywhere!"

"Delta come in!"

"We've got civilians attacking, how the hell did they breakthrough-"

"Delta two five? Delta do you read?" The superior was not shouting into the device as there was nothing but static escaping the small walkie.

"Damn it! What the hell is going on?" Sergeant Saochi questioned.

The short conversation with the other squad spooked the rest of the cadets to the point of silence, and exchanging looks with each other. Unsure if things were under control or that they were going to face something worse than death. All the team could do is sit and wait until they reached the university. The once big talk earlier was now full of doubt, and the jokes turned into serious expressions.

The truck suddenly came to a halt, as the men in the front seat were yelling for the rest of the team to get out. The cadets were confused at first, but then shocked that they jumped out the back only to find themselves stuck in traffic with huge crowds of scared people fleeing their vehicles. Sergeant Saochi confronted the team with a rather calm and collected expression that put the young cadets at ease.

"Alright! We've got new orders. We are to provide support to the police barricade just up the street. Our job is to help maintain order. Are we clear? Let's move out!" The Sergeant directly ordered.

"Sir yes, sir!" All of the cadets, including Hiroshi shouted as they begun marching forward, towards the crowded police barricade. The sound of screams and panic rose from the people as the call from the police officials ordered to stay calm. Once the group of young soldiers were spotted, they brought up the faces of hope inside the people eyes that the military was here. But in reality, they were just young men, not even over the age of 20. Marching into danger without even knowing it.

"What the hell man? What's with all these new orders?" Kazu turned his fear into questions.

"Shut up and keep moving!" Kai demanded.

The group pushed through the crowd until they reached the other side of the barricade, only to be greeted by an officer in charge of the sector.

"I'm glad you guys are here. We're short on manpower and we could use-"

"They're coming! Run!" A voice screamed among the crowd as more and more people pushed up against the police fences, forcefully but desperate to get over to the other side to safety. The cries of men and women pleaded to let them in, as they continued to shake the fence until it begun to finally topple over. Freeing them from the torment of fear, the crowd of civilians broke through, running towards the evacuation at the university.

"Everyone! Please head back and proceed accordingly! Or you will be... Good god..." The officer stared in silence as the law enforcement and military witnessed the face of cannibalism at first sight.

"All personnel! In position!"

Once the crowd finally passed, police and cadet teams readied their weapons and aimed them at the infected civilians as they closed in on their position.

"Stop! That's far enough!"

Once the order was spoken through the microphone, while the walking corpses didn't response, only the sound of moans escaped the crowd of infected. Sergeant Soachi grabbed the microphone and gave a full threat.

"This is your final warning! We will use deadly force!"

Although the crowd showed no signs of cooperation, or showed any sort of response, they still continued to stumble forward to the armed men. The expressions on each of them shared the uneasy of shooting unarmed civilians, especially the young cadets who only had basic training. Hiroshi whose heart was beating rapidly than normal. Sweat ran down his forehead as he watched the men and woman in front of him, getting closer and closer with each step. It was that breaking point where the Sargent finally ordered.

"OPEN FIRE!"

At that moment, each of them pulled their triggers along with the loud echoes that escaped the muzzle of the weapons. It was surely a battle to push back the ones causing this disaster.

"They're not stopping!"

"They just keep coming!"

"Hold your positions!"

The screams of police officers and cadets called out as they continued to spray their bullets into each infected, putting them down for good, as some just kept getting back up as if they felt no pain whatsoever. Hiroshi arms felt tense as he blindly fired at each target, one by one. But all efforts proved to be successful at first, but more and more kept coming out from the alleys and streets. There just seemed to be no end to them.

"You gotta be kidding me? Just how many more do we gotta kill!?" Hiroshi shouted as he changed his rifle magazine.

"We're running low on ammo!" One of the officers yelled.

"They're getting closer!"

"Don't stop shooting!"

Desperate cries among the men, as they worked up the courage to stand and fight, but the horde were already close enough to the point of pushing down the police officers who continued to fire their weapons in hope to win. But one by one, the police fell to their demise, each of them being cannibalized by these.. monsters. This broke the moral of the young cadets as some had began to run away, due to the fear of being killed. The squad leader, Saochi called out.

"Fall back! Get to the university!"

The cadets retreated in defeat as more and more monsters slowly chased after them. Without looking back at the battle they had lost, Hiroshi ran as fast as he could, with the thought of death crowding his mind. Afraid of the loss of his life. And his mother who is caught up in this mess.

"Mother..." He whispered under his shaky breath.

Everything turned into complete chaos, fires broke out, the sound of sirens and helicopters filled the air. Was this hell? Surely this could only be someone's doing. The devil himself passing judgment? Whatever it was, the reaper took many names with him as the city burst into flames.

And right around the corner of his eye. A white light grew brighter as the young cadet ran for his life. Motionless, all Hiroshi could do is turn his head to watch an ambulance vehicle quickly crash into him. Making the Reaper smile from the shadows.

- **End of Chapter 4** -

 **Authors notes: It's been while since I posted, but now that I finally finished school I'm able to work more on my Fanfictions. I hope you have enjoyed this chapter. As more will come..**

 **-TSK**


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